Christopher Nolan Talks About Bane

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The director elaborates on his choice of villain and saying goodbye to the characters he brought to life

I only knew him by name, I wasn't familiar with his back-story. He's a very cool character

The Dark Knight Rises director Christopher Nolan sheds some light on the new villain Bane and closing out the Batman saga, reports Total Film.

Bane, played by the brilliant Tom Hardy, is a relatively unknown villain and only had his first appearance in 1993 whereas the previous movie baddies The Joker and Scarecrow (played by the late Heath Ledger and Ireland's own Cillian Murphy) date back to the early 1940’s.

When asked why he picked Bane as Batman’s principal nemesis for the his final outing with the cowl wearer Nolan said: “I didn’t know him very well. David Goyer got me a bunch of stuff on him and we looked into him. I only knew him by name, I wasn’t familiar with his back-story. He’s a very cool character.

“With Bane, the physicality is the thing,” he says. “With a good villain you need an archetype, you know, you need the extreme of some type of villainy. The Joker is obviously a particular archetype of diabolical, chaotic anarchy and has a devilish sense of humour. Bane, to me, is something we haven’t dealt with in the films. We wanted to do something very different in this film. He’s a primarily physical villain, he’s a classic movie monster in a way — but with a terrific brain.”

Nolan, who directed Inception, The Prestige and Memento, has also had to bid farewell to some much loved and wonderfully developed characters. “I tend not to be too emotional on the set, I find that doesn’t help me do my job, but you definitely get a little lump in your throat thinking that, ‘OK, this is going to be the last time we’re going to be doing this’.

“It’s been quite a journey. It was pretty emotional as we would finish these characters and say goodbye to Alfred for the last time and say goodbye to Commissioner Gordon and eventually, with Christian, fairly close to the end, saying goodbye to Batman … it was a big deal.”